My first encounter with another type of church, than the traditional Lutheran that we have in Sweden, was when I was in Miami in spring 2002, to do interviews for my exam paper to my Bachelor's degree. A flyer caught my eye at the hostel, so I decided to go and have a look at an Eckankar meeting. I was your typical New Age seeker and had immersed myself into literature about Shamanism and some Qigong, and recently started practicing Yoga, while pursuing my new career as a Lifecoach. As soon as I entered the meeting, I felt uplifted and given answers to personal ponderings that I had had. This was thus my first experience with how a Divine power can orchestrate meetings and inspire people to share both references, knowledge and experiences, that turn out to be a perfect match to one of your own questions. I soon realized that these people shared a similar belief to my own personal faith. My seeking continued in Hawaii and in 2007, I got baptised in Sweden. In 2011, I became a member of Unity Church in the United States, while I was living there, a similar New Thought congregation.
How does this then work to combine with spiritual practices? Can you both do yoga and go to church? Personal development and growth has become synonym with yoga, which is such a sick illusion. You don't become enlightened by standing in a specific pose. It's either to submit oneself to Hinduism, or not, on your mat. But to practice yoga in itself doesn't imply any need of faith. And by differentiating between prayers and meditation, we can do both. We meditate to release, relax and receive, whether serenity or inner inklings about what we need. We say a prayer to ask God for permission, forgiveness, direction, guidance, comfort or assistance, with a humble heart. We then can be under God in our service. To chant, is to bridge meditation with prayer. To call, level up and align.
You can read more about Eckankar here.